Endorsement: Barbara Cady offers a better outlook in District 42 House race
Fred Hawkins Jr. has been a county commissioner since this year’s senior class at Osceola High was in kindergarten. That experience should give him an advantage in his race for the state House.
It should, but it doesn’t. All that time in power seems to have gone to Hawkins' head.
That’s one reason we’re endorsing Barbara Cady for the District 42 seat. Voters will get someone who’ll listen to their needs, not threaten to have them arrested if they stand in her way.
Cady, a Democrat, has never held public office, but she ran for the seat in 2018. She lost to Mike La Rosa, who is prevented by term limits from running again.
The district includes much of Osceola County and part of eastern Polk County. Cady said the area’s economic struggles inspired her to enter politics. She favors a $15 minimum wage, Medicaid expansion and better unemployment benefits.
She wants to allow Tourist Development Tax funds to be spent on education, infrastructure and other local needs. And she’ll stand firm against raiding the Sadowski Fund of money that’s supposed to fund affordable housing.
Those are good starting points for any first-time legislator.
“I’ll be the freshman,” Cady told the Editorial Board, “so I’ll be learning a lot about legislation.”
We’re not worried about her learning curve. Cady knows the issues, but she doesn’t pretend to be a know-it-all. That brings us back to Hawkins.
He was first elected to the County Commission in 2008 and has done some good things. But his overall record is spotty, especially when it comes to growth and environmental issues.
We initially endorsed Hawkins in the Republican primary, which featured a weak field. But we withdrew the endorsement when Gov. Ron DeSantis suspended Hawkins from the commission office because of his arrest in late July on felony charges of impersonating a law enforcement officer.
The Florida Department of Law Enforcement investigated an incident from last November at a homeowners association meeting. The meeting was for homeowners only, and the FDLE report said Hawkins tried to enter despite not belonging to the association.
When a security guard tried to stop him, Hawkins flashed the honorary badge given him by the Osceola County Sheriff’s Office, threatened to have the guard arrested and forced his way inside.
We would have asked Hawkins about his brush with the law but he canceled — without explanation — an Editorial Board interview on the day it was scheduled to be held. Instead of answering questions and discussing issues, he’s going with attack ads, paid for by contributions from land development and other special interests that seem undeterred by his pending felony charges.
While that was just a single incident, it speaks to an arrogance that has manifested itself too often. Like when Hawkins became the chief defender of an agreement that allowed toxic coal ash to be imported from Puerto Rico and dumped at a privately owned landfill, a landfill his family receives royalties from.
Hawkins abstained from voting on the agreement, but his advocacy of it speaks volumes.
Tallahassee has enough self-centered swamp creatures convinced of their own wisdom.
It needs representatives who are eager to learn and do the job the right. That’s why Cady should be the next representative in District 42.
Election endorsements are the opinion of the Orlando Sentinel Editorial Board, which consists of Opinion Editor Mike Lafferty, Jennifer A. Marcial Ocasio, Jay Reddick, David Whitley and Editor-in-Chief Julie Anderson. Sentinel Columnist Scott Maxwell participates in interviews and deliberations. Send emails to insight@orlandosentinel.com. Watch candidates interviews at OrlandoSentinel.com/interviews.
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